Air Force One, any aircraft of the U.S. Air Force that is carrying the president of the United States. Strictly speaking, Air Force One is the radio call sign adopted by any Air Force plane while the president is aboard. In common parlance, however, the call sign has become identified with specific aircraft reserved for use by the president for travel within the United States or abroad. Since 1991 two such aircraft have been in service: identical Boeing 747-200B jumbo jets bearing the tail numbers 28000 and 29000 and the Air Force designation VC-25A.

Today’s Air Force One

Each of the current Air Force One aircraft is equipped with classified security and defense systems, including measures to protect onboard electronics against the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear explosion. A telecommunications centre is located in the upper level, and in the lower level is a cargo hold with a self-contained baggage-handling system. The middle level contains accommodations for as many as 70 passengers in addition to the crew of 26. These accommodations include seating and work areas for media representatives, security staff, and other personnel; a combination conference-dining room; an in-flight pharmacy and emergency medical equipment; and two galleys in which as many as 100 servings per meal can be prepared. The presidential suite, located in the quiet forward area of the plane, contains an office, a bedroom, and a lavatory.

The two jets have a range of almost 8,000 miles (more than 12,000 km) unrefueled, but with in-flight refueling they are capable of circling the globe. They are based at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, near Washington, D.C., and are assigned to the 89th Airlift Wing of the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command. They have served presidents, vice presidents (at which time they are known as Air Force Two), and other dignitaries under the administrations of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. The pair of jets is slated for replacement by three new aircraft between 2017 and 2021.

The first presidential planes

The first American president to fly while in office was Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in January 1943 flew aboard a commercial Boeing 314 Clipper flying boat to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco, during World War II. Late in the war the U.S. Army Air Forces took possession of a Douglas C-54 Skymaster that had been specially built for presidential use. This four-engined transport plane, based on the DC-4 civil airliner, had a range of 4,000 miles (6,400 km) and, unlike the Clipper, could land at any sizable airfield in the world. Officially designated VC-54A but known among irreverent journalists as the “Sacred Cow,” it featured a conference room, a stateroom with a lavatory and a bullet-proof picture window, and an elevator for raising and lowering the wheelchair-bound president between the plane and the ground. It transported Roosevelt only once—to the Yalta Conference in Soviet Crimea in February 1945—but it remained in service until 1947, during the first Harry S. Truman administration, before being reassigned to other duties and ultimately retired in 1961. The Sacred Cow has been restored and is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.

Truman’s dedicated airplane was a modified Douglas C-118 Liftmaster, which in turn was a military version of the DC-6 airliner. It was officially designated VC-118, but Truman named it the Independence after his hometown in Missouri. The Independence had more powerful engines and a greater range than the Sacred Cow. It also featured the new technology of pressurized cabins and could carry 24 passengers outside of the presidential stateroom. The stateroom, located in the after section, contained a reclining swivel chair and a full-sized sofa bed. This plane transported Truman to Wake Island in the Pacific for his historic confrontation with Gen. Douglas MacArthur in October 1950, during the Korean War. The Independence remained the primary presidential plane until Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed office in 1953. After serving various other transport duties, it was retired in 1965 and is now on display at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

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